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Lesson 5 of 6
  • Year 6

The differences of rap and beat poetry

I can understand how rap and beat poetry can inspire hope and positive action.

Lesson 5 of 6
New
New
  • Year 6

The differences of rap and beat poetry

I can understand how rap and beat poetry can inspire hope and positive action.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Artists can use words in different ways. Beat poets composed poems that are often spoken over music.
  2. Rap artists rhyme in a rhythmical way in time to the music.
  3. Music and lyrics can bring hope and inspire.
  4. We can be inspired by music and lyrics even when they weren’t written specifically for a community we are a part of.

Keywords

  • Rap - rhythmical speech, often over a musical accompaniment

  • Beat poetry - an artistic movement that started in the 1950s influenced by the free improvisation styles in jazz

Common misconception

Lyrics should always fit in time with the music.

Beat poetry is an example of when speech can ‘float above’ the music without having to keep to a strict rhythm.


To help you plan your year 6 music lesson on: The differences of rap and beat poetry, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The ideas given in task B can be used as sentence starters for lyrics or as ideas to spark discussion.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
What is rap?

a kind of singing
Correct answer: rhythmical speech, often over music
a rhythmic ostinato
reading poetry without rhythm

Q2.
When we improvise, we ...

write the notes down
Correct answer: make up music on the spot
read from the notation
plan every detail of the music

Q3.
When we describe the volume, how loud or quiet the music is, we are talking about the .

Correct Answer: dynamics, Dynamics

Q4.
The pattern of sounds and silences that we play and sing is called the .

Correct Answer: rhythm, Rhythm

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Beat poetry was influenced by which style of music?

rock
folk
electronic
Correct answer: jazz

Q2.
True or false? Singing and chanting are the only ways to make music with our voice.

Correct Answer: false, False

Q3.
Which are not correct? Lyrics can be ...

rapped
Correct answer: played
spoken
Correct answer: hummed

Q4.
What is timbre in music?

the speed of the music - how fast or slow the music is played
Correct answer: a description of the sound or tone of an instrument
the combination of different layers of sounds
the way the music is organised